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Quick HitMatthew BlakeFriday May 18th, 2012, 8:55pm

Nurses Hold Massive Peaceful Rally In Center Of Chicago (VIDEO)

Demonstrators at a National Nurses United rally at Daley Plaza in
downtown Chicago today said that they were nervous violence might
overshadow the nurses’ message of economic equality in what was billed
as the second biggest event in a week of NATO summit-relatedprotests.

But
the two-hour event was without much incident, despite a crowd that
likely exceeded the 2,000 people the nurses union said would attend.

Nurses –
most dressed like Robin Hood to promote a “Robin Hood” or financial
transaction tax on Wall Street traders – staged an orderly and often
light-hearted event, featuring a mock G8 summit and musical interludes.

The rally concluded with acoustic numbers from guitarist Tom Morello, formerly of Rage Against The Machine: City officials worried aloud last week that the presence of Morello would increase rally attendance to dangerous levels.

Speakers spoke out against President Barack Obama for his alleged Wall Street friendly
policies and also relocating this weekend’s G8 summit from Chicago to
Camp David. Many poked fun at Obama “for being scared by a bunch of
nurses.”

A few slammed Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for briefly revoking the rally permit last week and also making an ordeal out of protesters getting a permit for Sunday’s march to the NATO summit (the nunber one anticipated event of the week).

“Do
not let the city of Chicago; do not let the federal government
intimidate you from exercising your first amendment rights,” said Andy
Thayer, a lead organizer for Sunday’s protest.

Morello also
expressed his displeasure.

“The mayor’s office tried to shut this whole
thing down,” Morello claimed. “How ridiculous for the mayor’s office to
think that I would do something to hurt Chicago or encourage people to
do something to hurt Chicago.”

Here is video of Thayer, Morello and the protesters:

Prior
to the rally, demonstrators such as Caroline Ediger of Chicago argued
that the “message of economic justice has not gotten out because the
press has been zeroing in on the problems.”

“The press is assuming
that because there have been violent confrontations in the past that
they are going to be problems,” Ediger said.

“I think that our
messages get diluted,” argued demonstrator Andrew Shantz of Chicago.
“There is a regular dismissing of us as hippies and anarchists.”

Separate marches that followed from the rally are unfolding – as of late afternoon, the Chicago Tribunereported on two separate arrests of marchers.

Also according to the Tribune, police
estimated the rally attendance level at between 2,400 ro 2,700 people.
While the number exceeds prior nurses union estimates, it is also far
below the city’s stated 5,000 person capacity for Daley Plaza.